OPI Metallic 4 Life

OPI Metallic 4 Life was released with the Nicki Minaj collection in early 2012. It's a black jelly with tons of silver glitter. Too much glitter, in my opinion. I used 2 very thin coats over a black base and probably should have stuck with one.

Meh. It's not a bad color, just not my thing. It seems sort of messy-looking...

I figured I'd try it matte, since I clearly don't like this as is...

Nope. Should've left it glossy. Oh well, they can't all be winners. I do love the idea of silver glitter in a black jelly base, so I'm debating decanting some of it and adding clear and a little bit of black. The formula wasn't bad, and frankly I didn't want to wear this long enough to comment on wear, so I do want to clarify that it's not an issue of quality or anything. I just think the glitter:base ratio is way off for my tastes. On Friday, I'll have something much much better to show you. :) And one of these days I'll learn to keep track of what day it is, lol!

Nicole by OPI Luke of the Draw looks pretty much the same, if not slightly more dense. But given that they're both OPI products, they're probably just rebottled versions of each other.

Have you tried Metallic 4 Life? How did you feel about it?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Color Club Cherubic

Color Club Cherubic is from the first Halo Hues collection that was released late last year. That collection consisted of your standard pastel holographics, so I wasn't that excited, but I've been holding out on buying linear holos for a couple years in the hopes that cheaper, flashier ones with better formulas would be released. No Nfu Ohs (that bottle, BLEGH), no Laylas (bad formula, too expensive), no HITS (not a fan of that finish, bottle shape, or price). So basically, the Color Clubs are exactly what I was waiting for. Was I disappointed? HECK NO.

Cherubic is supposed to be a tan/nude holo, but I think I'm too warm-toned for that to work, so it's more like beige. 2 coats, no top coat, in the shade.

You can still see a weak rainbow, even in the shade! My OMGs, in this lighting condition, displayed no rainbow whatsoever. Here's a better look at the base color:

See what I mean? Not a nude for me, but still a very nice color. Now, let's look at it in the sun.

BAM. RAINBOWS. Awesome. Love. I used base coat, but no top coat. Application was perfect, and it was solid in 2 coats. I also love how quickly it dries! I slapped on a coat of Essie Fill the Gap and 2 coats of Cherubic, and my manicure was solid in 5-7 minutes. I also bought Harp On It and Beyond, and while I haven't photographed those yet, I have worn them and I gotta tell you, they are just as awesome. Yes, they do chip quickly, within 1-2 days for me, but holos are pretty notorious for their bad wear, so I don't think it's a big deal.

Since these Color Clubs were based off of Nfu Oh holos, it probably isn't surprising that Cherubic is similar to Nfu Oh 62, and by extension, Make Up Store Madeleine. Layla Coral Glam is also a nude, depending on your skintone, but it is a lot more peachy.

Have you tried any of these holos? What do you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great week!

Contrary Polish Purple Smoke + Comparison

Happy Friday!! I am especially stoked today. I just finished my last final (Spanish), and I feel great about it. Today I've got for you a Contrary Polish that isn't necessarily as exciting as the others I've posted so far, but is still quite awesome.

Contrary Polish Purple Smoke is one of the original six colors. When I first saw it, I thought, eh, it's close enough to Paradoxal, Perplex, etc. and if you're not a fan of those greyish/taupe-y/purple colors, it probably is! However, I love them, and am quite pleased with Purple Smoke. It's opaque in 3 thin coats. In the shade:

Like the other Contraries, Purple Smoke is a subtle shimmer, but not at all hidden. Purple Smoke dries pretty matte, so you'll definitely need top coat. In the sun:

The shimmer in Purple Smoke isn't nearly as contrasting as some of the other colors, but I think it's lovely nonetheless. I've also compared it to Revlon Perplex and Barry M Dusky Mauve (an exact dupe for Chanel Paradoxal). I know, Perplex and Dusky Mauve are pretty close, but I chose to compare it with both because to me, Perplex is definitely more purple, and Dusky Mauve is more brown.

So, first up, Purple Smoke vs. Perplex. 2 coats of Perplex on the index and ring fingernails, with top coat.

As you can see, Perplex is darker, warmer, and more purple.

And Purple Smoke vs. Dusky Mauve. 2 coats of Dusky Mauve on the index and ring fingernails, plus top coat.

Like Perplex, Dusky Mauve is warmer and more purple than Purple Smoke, but Dusky Mauve is also a lot more taupe or brown-leaning. Purple Smoke looks blueish in comparison.

All three of these polishes have great formulas, so I'd recommend any of them. Out of these, Perplex will definitely be the easiest to obtain. It has been renamed Naughty, and is now core. Full-sized Contrary Polishes are available on Llarowe, Femme Fatale, and Shoppe Eclectico, but on Fridays, you can also buy minis straight from the Contrary Polish blog. For those of you in the US, Dusky Mauve will be the most troublesome to obtain- I bought mine on Ebay. Harlow and Co. sold Barry M at one point, but I don't see them on the site anymore. You can order directly from Barry M, but I know of someone who had quite a bit of trouble with them, and wouldn't recommend it.

Have you tried any of these? What did you think? Are you as much of a sucker for greyish purples as I seem to be?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

Revlon Gold Coin + Orly Halo

Yaaaaay, I am free! My cast was originally supposed to come off four weeks ago, but my wrist was definitely not healed enough at that point, so I got a new one. Watch out for those skateboarders, y'all. I still have a bit of trouble with my right knee. :|

Picking up where I left off, here's Orly Halo. It's an awesome, flashy metallic glitter from the Naughty or Nice Collection that was released last winter. When I tested this on a single nail, I realized it's sheer as hell, so I opted to layer it over a cool gold foil: Revlon Gold Coin. I know I said I wasn't going to buy Gold Coin, but I didn't! I discovered it in my mom's stash. Apparently we both have weaknesses for gold and copper. :'D

Luckily, Gold Coin is really freaking opaque, so I only needed to use one coat for a base. Here it is with 3 coats of Halo on top. I did use top coat, but Halo is surprisingly smooth on its own.

And in the sun:

Yay! Sparkly metallic glittery awesomeness. This is a pretty flashy manicure, and I got several compliments on it from people, which was nice. Let's take a closer look:

Ok, well, you can't really see that much because it's so busy...but it's comprised of small silver hexes mixed with tiny cool gold glitters, and flecks of Gold Coin peeking out through the glitter. I should also note that the wear on this mani was great. 5 days, still super blingy, no chips or tipwear.

As far as dupes go, I can't think of any that I would consider exact, but OPI Spark de Triomphe seems pretty close. I think it has a veeeeery slight greenish tinge, but the glitter composition seems similar. I actually bought Halo to kill my Spark de Triomphe lemming, and it's close enough to suit my purposes.

Have you tried Halo, or any of the other Holiday Orlys? What did you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Orly Mash-Up Collection

Hey y'all! I am not 100% back yet, that should hopefully be happening in a week or 2 turns out I will need a cast until May at the earliest, but in the meantime I wanted to let you know about a new collection I spotted at the nail supply today. I have heard absolutely nothing about this collection, but a cursory Google search led me to some press releases from March, and that's about it. The colors are as follows:

Sparkling Garbage: light green scattered holo
Harmonious Mess: a very light, blue-toned lavender creme
Choreographed Chaos: a bright, Barbie-esque neon pink with subtle cool-toned pink shimmer (did not photograph accurately, since it is neon)
Mayhem Mentality: neon orange, no shimmer (also did not photograph accurately, damn neons)
Beautiful Disaster: warm purple shimmer, zzzzzZZZZzzzz
Pretty-Ugly: IMO the prettiest one of the collection, a light aqua with icy blue shimmer

I didn't buy any of them because they're not really my thing, but I did attempt to take some bottle shots on the sly.

L,R: Sparkling Garbage, Harmonious Mess

L,R: Choreographed Chaos, Mayhem Mentality

L,R: Beautiful Disaster, Pretty-Ugly

I took some closer-up pictures of Sparkling Garbage, since that's by far the most unique color. Sorry they are weird and blurry, LOL. For some reason it didn't occur to me to put down the Essie bottle I was holding before attempting to photograph the Orly. And I was also thinking, "AHHH HURRY UP DON'T GET YOURSELF YELLED AT ASDFGHJHGFDS" ....yeah.

The rainbow was definitely stronger IRL. It's an interesting effect. Sparkling Garbage is a pretty silly name though.

What do you think? Anything you might be interested in?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and thank you so much for sticking with me even though I haven't posted in a long time!

Taking a Short Break

*gasp* Posting on a weekend? I know.

Unfortunately, I had a bit of a mishap yesterday that resulted in a fractured left wrist and some sort of damage to that elbow (possibly fractured, not sure yet). I do keep a backlog of stuff to post from, but it's not enough to fill the gap until my cast comes off, so I'm just going to put my blog on hold for now. See you later, and thanks so much for reading and following! I hope my swatches have been helpful.

OPI Don't Touch My Tutu + Le Metier de Beaute Moon's Glow

Whoa, long title. As soon as I put on OPI Don't Touch My Tutu, my mom walked in, saw my manicure, and excitedly declared that it would be a perfect base for one of her recent acquisitions: Le Metier de Beaute Moon's Glow. Turns out they actually sell decently-sized  bottles of polish now. Anyway, I think she was right! I used one thin coat of Moon's Glow over 3 coats of Don't Touch My Tutu, which was in turn layered over 2 coats of Essie Fill the Gap.

*gasp* A frost. I know. It's so not my style. And yet, I kinda like it? It's a nice change, if nothing else. 

It kind of reminds me of those satin-y pillowcases. Or pearls. Or fairy princess nails, as my buddy Dana phrased it.

Depressingly enough, I think the Le Metier de Beaute brush is probably my new favorite. Y AN EXPENSIVE TASTE? Womp womp. It's so good though. Sort of like the OPI Pro-Wide, but a bit shorter and slimmer, so application is much much easier.

As for dupes, CND Gold Shimmer is the closest color I can think of, but the CND is a lot less frosty, and of course, cheaper, so you will probably prefer that. 

I was actually eyeing another Le Metier polish somewhat recently: Dream Maker. It's this crazy vivid blurple. Really glossy creme, and so cool. But I wimped out, and I also figured it would be a huge pain in the ass to photograph. If you like purple/blurple/indigo/whatever you want to call it, you need to check it out.

What do you think? Have you ever found a frost you actually kinda liked (and are willing to admit it)? Have you tried any Le Metier de Beaute polishes?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!